An unusual elk was spotted in the highlands, and I was part of the hunting party racing to its last location. From the back of our journeykin, we pounced the elk and it fought with leyline-infused techniques. We were making progress, when it started running, forcing us to remount our journeykin and pursue it! We readied harpoons with chains to slow it as it zigged and zagged, trying to throw us off. It took several attempts but we stopped it and continued the assault. As before, we waylaid the elk, exhausting its vitality before it began to run again. This time our pursuit led us to another situation, a wolf pup was sickened and the kodan needed help gathering herbs to fight the sickness. It was looking rough, there weren’t enough people to hold off the titans and gather herbs. Trusting the party that began the hunt to finish it, I broke off and went to the pup’s aid.
This series of events is exactly why I love playing Guild Wars 2. You begin one of the many tasks that unfold in the world and it intercepts another task. These events are built to engage you with the world and convey the themes of each map. The Lowlands map doesn’t have a meta event, relying on small local events to convey kodan culture, from hunting and gathering to agriculture and combat. You tend to basic chores around towns, and maybe get an unusual request from a cryptozoologist, however, a strange rot spreads, and you’ll investigate the underlying threat while fighting its effects on the ecosystem.
I always go back to Guild Wars 2. I’ve played since the beginning when it was bustling with RP guilds everywhere, the core story intrigued everyone, and that climatic push to Orr, was an arduous campaign through a land of death. I was part of its living world, explored every expansion, and even lived its ‘saga’. Overall I enjoyed most of my time with Guild Wars 2. Secret of the Obscure started strong, but its landing was rough. So when Janthir Wilds was announced I hoped the events, environment, and residents didn’t exacerbate my disappointment with the latter end of last expansion.
Janthir Wilds takes a measured approach to its story, focused on a small cast of characters and no cataclysmic battle. Immediately following the events of Secrets of the Obscure (SotO), you join a summit featuring a majority of Tyria’s major nations and factions. It’s a good way to introduce us to everyone’s state of affairs and proves that lacking a major foe doesn’t mean everyone’s problems are resolved. It also introduces these nations to the Astral Ward, as they relent in remaining in obscurity because of the losses taken fighting the Kryptis. We’re sent north to the Janthir Wilds where another anomaly has appeared and help was requested by the kodan that resided there. After a few story chapters, you get the Warclaw mount and can unlock the mastery line that grants you land-based spear weapons.
As I ventured through Lowlands Shore, the verticality was reminiscent of the Heart of Maguuma, complemented with bouncing mushrooms, and updrafts. The terrain is wild and mountainous, with towering trees, winding cliffs, wide rivers, and high waterfalls. The Lowland kodan are brown bear variants of the kodan species. These bears live in gorgeous cabins built on the cliffs that run along a large river. While SotO events were often dire affairs, involving terrifying stakes, like saving a bunch of people that disappeared from their sundered village, Janthir Wilds events in Lowland Shore are often more mundane; pull down large trees, wrangle stray kittens tearing up cabbages, take part in a dance circle. Janthir Syntri’s deeper in the wilderness, on an island that suffers storms, and the results of White Mantle experiments. The map is focused on containing the damage caused by the experiments, gathering food for the expedition camps, and containing the invaders’ influence, but exploration is how you discover the real story.
With spear in paw (I’m a charr player) I ventured through Janthir Syntri. As a Mesmer, the spear is a melee weapon that thrives in fighting masses and uses its Mind the Gap skill, gaining Clairty to enhance spear attacks. It’s an elegant and mobile weapon, the heart of battle’s the stage, the spear spins and cuts with the grace of a duelist. But spears can be a range, melee, or hybrid armament, and every class has unique fighting styles! Thief’s spear has versatile combos that rotate as you use openers, follow-ups, and finishers that could be mixed to inflict whatever conditions desired against their enemies. Revenant’s spear lays out a flurry of explosive area-of-effect blasts that Torments their enemies.
Janthir Wilds biggest draw is a plot of land and a house. The Homestead has the tools needed to convert resources into building materials. It’s furnished with kodan decor, but other region’s furniture schematics are sold through Heart vendors in Janthir. You can access tools previously reserved for guild halls to tend to your land. The mastery track expands crafting options and the house. I barely cared about crafting in GW2, but after Homesteads I insistently gathered resources to add more trees, flowers, and lamps around my homestead. I endeavored to make this open space a lush forest with cultural icons from nature revering cultures, complemented with a firepit to sit with others, and a hidden training area.
I have some issues with certain rewards, namely how you unlock certain armor pieces. It also has bugs, including new skins that don’t fit, floating weapons, and clipping. But I enjoyed the gameplay! The writers must’ve been encouraged to cater dialogue to your race and culture choices. Several times kodan would address the charr’s feline features or their horns. In the first segment when my Ash Legion charr (the subterfuge branch of the Charr Legions) met with several spy/assassin characters before the council, she commented that it felt like she was starting a new warband, a callback to my character’s personal story. It was a great touch and seemed tailored to my character. Having your character say something like ‘It makes my fur stand on end’ feels different than defaulting to ‘makes my hair stand on end’.
Homesteads are a favorite task to commit resources to realizing an ideal home for my alts. Spears adds unique mechanics, many new animations, and grand visual effects. The warclaw is versatile when engaging in combat or exploring the map. The maps are big and beautiful, with diverse tasks, encouraging ground exploration to unravel its mysteries. It’s great that it doesn’t emphasize massive meta-events besides Janthir Syntri’s. GW2 has many meta events or events that feed into meta events, and having a map without a greater event chain helps tell the land’s story without a constant sense of urgency.
This isn’t a full review, because the expansion’s still growing, with additional maps, and the story’s incomplete, but it’s a good first impression. I love my time in Janthir, forging weapons, training cubs, burning out parasites, fishing, or teaching grawl, and hope future patches add more fun activities. ArenaNet shows it listens to the community content requests and tries to follow through; harder content, mounts, now with player housing and spears. With their new Godspawn update coming, bringing three new story chapters, a raid, confluences a new legendary weapon, new Homesteads cosmetics, and Wizard Vault updates, ArenaNet’s working hard to provide their players with content they’ll want to return to.
